Device for drawing wire which eliminates chatter



March 11, 1969- D. K. DEARDORFF 3,431,766

' DEVICE FOR DRAWING WIRE WHICH ELIMINATES CHATTER Filed June 15, 1966Sheet of 5 INVENTOR Donald K. Dedrdorff ATTORNEY March 11, 1969 0. K.DEARDORFF 3,431,765

DEVICE FOR DRAWING WIRE WHICH ELIMINATES CHATTER Filed June 15, 1966Shet g of s INVENTOR Donald K. Deordorff MMM ATTORNEY March 11, 1969 D.K. DEARDORFF 3,431,756

DEVICE FOR DRAWING WIRE WHICH ELIMINATES CHATTER Filed June 15, 1966Sheet 3 of 5 INVENTOR Donald K. Deordorff ATTORNEY United States Patent4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wire to be drawn is held at oneend by pliers. At a point spaced from this one end, the wire is held bya die which can be reciprocated. Inbetween the die and pliers, the wirelies against the cam surface of a freely pivotable cam. When said oneend of the wire is held in place with the pliers and the die is moved topull the wire in an opposing direction, the wire pulls against the camsurface and moves the cam towards a cam follower which movement resultsin locking the wire between the cam and follower. Further movement ofthe die in said 0pposing direction draws the wire.

This invention relates to a wire drawing apparatus.

A plurality of devices presently exist for drawing wire. In one type awire is first started through a die on a draw bench, and then gripped bya clamp which is power driven the length of the bench. In a seconddevice a Wire is attached to a revolving drum after being startedthrough the die, the drum functioning as a wire collector as well as thedrawing power. A third power driven apparatus involves mounting a die ina suitable adapter in the lower jaws of a tensile strength testingmachine, and grasping the wire in the upper jaws. Manual drawing devicesare also employed wherein one end of the vvire is held in a vise and thedie is hand-pulled along the wire, or the die is held in a vise and theWire hand-pulled with, for example, a pair of pliers. All theseforegoing devices share the disadvantage of having several inches offree wire between the die and gripping or pulling device which length offree wire is a contributing cause to wire chatter and resultantbreakage, even with the use of lubricants between the wire and die.

An object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for efficientlydrawing wire by short draw strokes thereby avoiding wire chatter andbreakage.

For further objects and advantages of the present invention reference ishad to the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the device;

FIG. '2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the device;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top view illustrating the manipulation of thedevice.

Referring to FIG. 1, numeral 1 designates a die holder including a die2. A fixed support member 3 provides a projecting arm 3a to which thedie holder is pivotally secured on a stud. Another projecting arm 3b onmember 3 is gripped by, for example, vise jaws 4 to hold the memberstationary.

Initially, the end of a wire 5 is tapered by conventional means, andabout three inches of it pulled through the die 2, after which it is ledaround a guide member 6 (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) which is mounted forpivotal movement on a pin attached to the arm 30 projecting from member3. Guide member. -6 includes a cam projection 6a which can be broughtinto engagement with a cam follower member 8 on a section of member 3when guide member 6 is pivotally moved. The end of the wir which Iceleaves the gripping means between the cam projection 6a and cam followermember 8 is then grasped and held under slight tension with, forexample, pliers or clamp 7.

Referring to FIG. 3, by moving the free end of die holder 1 away fromarm 30, the die pulls on the wire and takes out any slack; the wire inturn pulling on guide memher 6 to move the member around its pivottoward the die holder. Thereby cam projecting 6a moves against the camfollower section 8 to pinch and securely grip the wire. So as not todamage the wire, the surfaces of the gripping components can be fairlysmooth. Further movement of the die holder away from member 3 is made ofsuch magnitude as to pull the die along and thereby draw about to A inchof wire. A return stroke of the die holder in the direction of arm 30 isthen made while simultaneously applying tautness with the clamp 7 toeasily pull in the freshly drawn wire. Since the pulling action on thewire by the die holder is discontinned during the return stroke, thepulling action on the guide member 6 by the wire is also discontinuedthereby interrupting the gripping action exerted by the cam andfollower.

Continuous movement of the die holder in a reciprocating manner andmovement of the clamp or pliers holding the end of the wire can beaccomplished either manually or by the use of a motor. If the apparatusis manually driven, about two feet of wire per minute can be drawn.

Many variations in the device can be employed. With regard to shapes andsizes, the U shape of member 3 is not essential for the gripping action,although this configuration is convenient for gripping the member in avise; the length of the guide member 6 or the location of the pin aboutwhich it pivots can be changed so as to get more or less leverage forgripping the wire. With regard to the employment of additional deviceswith the basic unit, pulleys or roller bearings may be attached to guidemember 6 to reduce friction between the wir and guide; feeding andcollecting spools could be employed; a guide could be attached to thedie holder to assure that the wire leaves the die perpendicularly.

The essence of the wire drawing device of the present invention is thatthe length of free wire between the die and wire grip is very short.Thus, this invention will often allow successful drawing of wire thatwould otherwise chatter and break. Such short drawing lengths requirethat frequent regripping of the wire be made. The cam gripping componentmakes such regripping possible.

While the particular apparatus herein described is well adapted to carryout the objects of the present invention, it is to be understood thatvarious modifications and changes may be made all coming within thescope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device for drawing wire,

(a) an elongated die holder with a die positioned between ends thereofto allow passage of said wire transversely through the holder, one ofsaid ends of said holder being pivotally secured to a first fixedsupport means for pivotal movement of said holder;

(b) wire gripping means supported closely adjacent said die holder, saidgripping means receiving wire exiting from said die and directing itoutwardly from said gripping means; said die acting to pull on said wirebetween said die holder and gripping means when said die holder movesaway from said gripping means during pivotal movement of said holder,and to discontinue said pull when moving toward said gripping means;said wire being positioned on said gripping means to pull on saidgripping means in response to said pull on said wire by said die, whenthe portion of wire which has been directed outwardly from said grippingmeans is held under slight tension; said gripping means responding tosaid pull thereon by tightly gripping said wire whereby said die andgripping means cooperate to hold said wire in a taut positiontherebetween and whereby said wire is drawn by said die when said dieholder is moved away from said gripping means after said gripping meansgrips said wire; said wire being positioned on said gripping means todiscontinue said pull on said gripping means in response to Saiddiscontinuance of said pull on said wire by said die; said grippingmeans responding to said discontinuance of said pull on said grippingmeans by discontinuing the grip on said wire whereby movement of saiddie holder toward said gripping means allows collection of a smalllength of drawn wire and positions said die for another draw stroke;said gripping means comprising a first section which includes areciprocating cam means and a second section which includes a fixed camfollower means, said wire passing between said cam and cam followermeans, said reciprocating cam means comprising a guide member forguiding said wire on said gripping means, one of the sides of saidmember having a cam projection over which said wire passes, saidprojection being opposite said cam follower means to grip said wirebetween said cam means and cam follower means, said guide member beingpivotally secured adof said gripping means includes a first projectingarm maintained in a fixed position.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein said first fixed support means is asecond projecting arm' extending from said second section.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said second fixed support means is athird projecting arm extending from said second section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 799,501 9/1905 Thompson 72-285922,979 5/ 1909 Van Derauwera 7 2-285 1,206,092 11/ 1916 Cetnarowski72.-274 1,679,906 8/1928 Kinnear 723 18 1,747,999 2/1930 Stachelrodt72318.

RONALD D. GREFE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

